claire mccaskill are online. plus, get gwen's take on how romney's post-debate rebound might play out in the missouri senate race. that's in her weekly blog post on our politics page. >> woodruff: and that brings us to the analysis of shields and brooks-- syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times columnist david brooks. gentlemen, good to have you with us. let's talk about the jobs report, what about that missouri senate raitt. >> it's ri remarkable race. >> hes have broken ran and ndorsed congressman akin and do-- whom claire mccaskill defeated in 2006. so republicans had expected to do a lot better, judy, this year than they are doing right now according to most estimates. the seats that they took for granted, dick lugar's in indiana, richard murdoch, the two party candidate is now behind centrist democrat joe donnelly, in maine where olympia snowee is going to walk to re-election, that the republicans are trailing badly es against an guess king. so all of a sudden republicans are looking, well, maybe we have to figure out a way to help congressman akin even though we don't

enormous pressure on president obama and governor romney right now. we're asking debate watchers, those who watched the debate to the history books. tonight, just like we will after every upcoming debate, we're breaking it down, issue by issue. this means more talk from the candidate on a particular topic. looking at some of the totals, we'll show you what's going on. but, first, here are some of the highlights from the first presidential debate. >> what things would i cut from spending? first of all, i will eliminate all programs by this test. if they don't pass it. is the program so critical, it's worth boring money from china to pay for it? obama care is on my list. i apologize mr. president. jim, i'm sorry, i had stop the subsidy to pbs. i love big bird, like you too. but i won't keep on spending money to borrow money from china to pay for. i'll take programs that are currently good programs but could be run more efficiently at the state level and send them to state. and make government more efficient, cut back the number of employees, combine agencies and departments, cutbac

retirement company. >>> welcome. miions of u were waiting this week for mitt romney and barack obama to connect with reality, to connect with the lives we actually live. it didn't happen. the 90-minute debate went by, for example, without a word about immigration. not a thing said about the countless people trapped in our muddled policy. and this in colorado, a swing state, where both romney and obama have been courting the large hispanic vote. that wouldn't have happened if my guest on this week's broadcast had been moderating the debate, but their participation was rejected by the tiny group of insiders who set the rules. that's a shame because george ram mows and maria elena sorena are two of the most popular journalists. they work for the most important spanish language network in the country, univision. i met them for the first time earlier this week when they were in town to receive the emmy award for lifetime achievement from the national academy of television arts and sciences. here's part of the video presentation that introduced them to the emmy audience. >> they're two of the

agrees that the first debate was won quite handedly by the republican challenger mitt romney and lost very much by president obama. but yesterday in santa barbara, i told this giant room full of people in this theater when asked about this subject that as clearly and as cleanly as mr. romney won the the debate, it still seems politically important that mr. romney did not win the debate in a way that produced a single sound byte. i mean, yeah, 60 million people watched romney win the debate overall, but for the 240 or so million american who is did not watch the debate who might have been curious about how it went, there was no single sound byte to take away from the debate to remember and repeat as the reason that mr. romney won. and so i sat at this event that even though romney won that night, won on debate night, there wasn't any day two story that could explain to people why it was that he won. i said, really, thinking about it, the only line, the single line that survived the debate, the only line that i think anybody can remember from the debate, i said this to a room of 2,000 p

governor romney for the debate will join us tonight. senator marco rubio will be here. one of the things initial thoughts is that you saw the president in a way you've never seen him before. never before hammered this way on a sustained basis. this went on throughout the night. mitt romney energized and was staring at him the whole time, meaning the president. the president would look down, and looking to bail him out in this debate. we've never seen this before in president obama. there is a lot of ground to cover tonight of we'll check in with our focus group. we're live with a lot of voters out there. frank, interested in their reaction tonight. >> and there is in denver that voted accurately and how many of you thought barack obama was a winner, how many of you thought mitt romney? understand this. 13 of the 24 people voted for obama in 2008. why did mitt romney do so well? >> i just respected his ability to speak to issues that he was on point. he looked like he was well prepared. i was very impressed. >> i agree. same thing. decisive. leadership. >> jordan? >> had passion and he's

in colorado. >> reporter: the campaigns have been focused on lowering their debate. mitt romney is talking up the president's victorious record from 2008. president obama's campaign said the president is out of practice compared to romney, referring to the gop primary debates. the one guy who didn't get the memo, new jersey governor chris christie. he hit the sunday morning talk shows, playing up the expectations for mitt romney. >> here's the great news for republicans. we have lap candidate who will do extraordinarily well. he will come am wednesday night, lay out his vision for america, contrast his view and the president's record and this whole race will be turned upside down come thursday morning. >> reporter: this unfiltered confidence may not make much of a splash. a newark ton post poll shows 55% of likely voters think the president will win this debate. only 31% say it will be romney. new this is a poll president obama likely does not want to win because he essentially says mitt romney is the underdog going into the debate. >> kelly? >> i don't think i've seen a gap that h

>>> on our broadcast tonight, the showdown, president obama, mitt romney and the debate in denver everyone is talking about. >>> breaking news about american airlines. why dozens of planes in the air tonight are being grounded when they land. >>> out of gas. why some gas stations are shutting down in a placehere prices are already over $5 a gallon. >>> is it a hidden danger in plastics and cans of high importance to mothers and their newborns. >>> and what we look like to them. "nightly news" begins now. to t. "nightly news" begins now. >>> good evening. they now estimate over 67 million of us watched the debate in denver last night and what people saw was a highly energized, motivated and combative mitt romney sharing the stage with a subdued and lackluster president obama. what they saw was mitt romney on his way over the course of 90 minutes to scoring a clear and consensus victory in what will be the first of three meetings between these two men. for romney, today felt like a new chapter. here's a look at the crowd waiting for him in virginia, while the president today said so

>>> facing off. barack obama and mitt romney meet for the first debate and their best opportunity to reach out voters. millions of americans gathered around their tv's or in front of their computers to watch two men argue with each other. barack obama and mitt romney debated health care, the role of government, and governing one month before the presidential election. but they spent most of their time arguing over the economy. the 90 minute debate in denver, colorado, one of the few battleground states that could decide the election. candidates concentrated on how to revive the economy. >> the only way to meet governor romney's pledge of not reducing the deficit, or not adding to the deficit, is by burdening middle-class families, now that's -- not my analysis. >> the president has a view very similar to the view he had when he ran four years ago, a bigger government, spending more, taxing more, regulating more, if you will, trickle down government would work. that's not the right answer for america. >> romney kept attacking o mode instructions. obama some times had trouble gettin

debate. the president actually spoke for a little more than four minutes more than mitt romney spoke, 42:50 for the president. 38:32 for mitt romney. a pretty good night for mitt romney. expectations were so much higher for the president that he would come out swinging, but mitt romney clearly held his own, and all of the various issues, they went back and forth. we didn't hear some of the attack lines from the president, so many of us were expecting he would be making. neve heard him mention anything about the 47%, the controversial remark that mitt romney made in boca raton in a closed-door fund-raiser, didn't get him into the history at bain capital, exporting jobs. none of the issues of tax returns. spoke about the most important issues, economy, jobs, and all of what's going on. we're going to watch a scientific poll that we're doing right now to get the reaction of what going on, and we're going to see what that scientific poll says about who won this debate. we also had a focus group watching of independent voters, undecided voters who were there watching what was going

of the first presidential debate between governor romney of massachusetts and president obama. you see both men being greeted by their wives on stage. even this portion of the debate is negotiated ahead of time by the campaigns in terms of which members of their family will be joining them on stage. this is, these these are negotiated down to this level of detail. in terms of how the overall debate unfolded, i personally do not know who won this debate. i do feel that we saw this debate format die a very painful death on camera tonight. the contrast between the candidates was stylistic as much as substantive. president obama i think calm and basically explanatory tonight. governor romney, more hyper, and i don't mean that in a negative way, just sort of more amped, more assertive. and that manifests in a way that the debate format was just dismantled. the format and i think the moderator, with all due respect to mr. lehrer dismantled. this is one of those debates, you could predict the score more by time of possession in terms of who was speaking more. then you could by any other i

, participating in republican primary debates helped mitt romney, the president was rusty. hasn't done this in four years. that's not an excuse as james said earlier. the obama campaign says that mitt romney doesn't care about your job or your community. we didn't hear anything like that from the president. romney at least held his own on the big questions of the economy and role of government. if you are the challenger and hold your own, you walk off the stage happy. >> critics of the president say he's two proffesorial. i think they'll say that tonight. >> and more. we have a horse race. mitt romney's performance was head and shoulders than anything we've seen before. >> you think this was his best debate? >> he drove this debate far more than anyone else imagined. mitt romney seized upon the opportunity and set the standard for it i think the president -- i didn't think he was rusty, as i don't think anybody has ever spoken to him like that over the last four years, and i think he found it not only surprising, but offensive. looked like he was angry at time. i think overall, you have to say

. >> gearing up, president obama and mitt romney prepare for their first debate. a show down in denver this wednesday. >>> and on the record, are arnold schwarzenegger opens up on "60 minutes" about the affair that produce ad son and ended his marriage. >> it was the stupidest thing i've done in the whole relationship. >> this is the "cbs morning news" for monday, october 1, 2012. >>> good morning. good to be with you. i'm terrell brown. this morning in afghanistan the taliban is claiming responsibility for a suicide attack that killed at least 14 people, including three nato service members. a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle rammed into a patrol. americans have a large presence there. nato is trying to sort out a weekend attack in afghanistan that left two americans dead. the casualties push the number of u.s. personnel killed in afghanistan to 2,000. the circumstances of saturday's violence remains unclear but a fire fight broke out at a checkpoint in eastern afghanistan. what nato hasn't determined so far was the gun battle a result of an insider attack or a deadly misunderstanding. >

cover cartoon of romney debating an empty chair. the captain "mitt stands alone." campaigns are only as good as their last news cycle, so on to danville, kentucky, and thursday night's battle of the number twos. joining me now are philadelphia mayor michael nutter, a long-time friend of joe biden, and republican party chairman -- a confidant of paul ryan. mayor nutter, stand by with me, and i want to get to the party chairman, and we'll be back with you. mr. chairman, thank you for joining us. i want to talk about the great burden of great expectations. there was a cnn poll, and who is going to win the vice presidential debate? the answer was biden, 35%, ryan, 55%. many many ways this mirrors what happened to the presidential debate? everyone thought president obama would win, so there's great expectations here for ryan. how much of a microscope do you think there will be on him? >> i'm not so sure about that. i mean, i don't dispute your polling there, but i think most people understand that joe bayeden has been debating for a long time. i mean, since the early 1900s. he has be

romney took control of the debate. he was dynamic, informed and very much on his game. and the president was not. he looked tired, he was not on top of the issues. even before the debate was over, the verdict came pouring in. romney won. and this morning, virtually every headline, every pundit left and right gives a strong edge to the governor. but the new york times just couldn't bring itself to admit their guy had a bad day. they hedged. obama and romney spar over fixing the economy, they said. well, dare i call this a romney rally? i will tell you that stocks will open up today. the day after the romney win. "varney & company" is about to begin. you'd be targeting stocks to trade. well, that's what trade architect's heat maps do. they make you a trading assassin. trade architect. td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account. >> october 4th, a lot happened during last night's debate. we have 90 minutes worth of back and forth to choose from. we will pick only the best moments f

debate. he focused most of his questions on the economy. obama criticized what he called romney's $5 trillion tax cut. >> how we pay for that, reduce the deficit, and make the investments that we need to make without dumping those costs on to middle-class americans i think, is one of the central questions of this campaign. >> reporter: romney said he had no intention of introducing such big cuts. he shot back with repeated references to the unemployment rate, 8.1%. it could be the most frequently recited number in the campaign. >> going forward with the status quo is not going to cut it for the american people who are struggling today. >> reporter: obama and romney are fighting over voters in a handful of states. those americans could swing the election either way. the candidates have one month and two more debates to win them over. mami mochizuki, nhk world, denver, colorado. >> in a cnn poll held soon after the debate, 67% of respondents said romney won the showdown while 25% said obama did. >>> u.s. marines in okinawa are have made their first training flights of an aircraft that'

days to go. president obama and mitt romney make final preparations for the first presidential debate. nancy cordes is on the trail if las vegas. >> i was a steelworker for 30 years. >> glor: sick of political ads? barry petersen in california reports on a referendum trying to limit them. mandarin chinese, the world's most spoken language now required in one american school district. mark strassman goes to class. >> what is the word for hello? >> niho. >> glor: and fighting chance, a decorated combat veteran overcomes his battle scars, fulfilling a dream on the football field. >> i didn't die that day on october 3rd, because i was meant to do something more in my life. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news." >> glor: and good evening, everyone, i'm jeff glor. after months arguing from a distance president obama and mitt romney meet face-to-face on wednesday. their first debate is scheduled for denver. 90 minutes focusing on domestic issues. nancy cordes is on the campaign trail tonight in las vegas, nancy, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, jeff. and to give

correspondent john roberts is tonight. >> ahead of the debate. romney is shifting the focus under a withering critique from fellow republicans he is making the campaign less referendum on the president, more a choice between who has the best policies, to lead the nation in the future. >> i represent a different course. i make sure young people have great jobs tomorrow and bright and prosperous future. that is the difference between us. >> wednesday's debate will focus on domestic policy. romney continues to hamer the president for what he calls a failed foreign policy? an op-ed in today's op-ed journal, romney declared the president is weakening the america's position in the world writing, "by failing to maintain the element of our influence and by stepping away from the allies, president obama has heightened the prospect of conflict and instability. he does not understand in american policy that lax resolve can provoke aggressio aggression. and carriage disorder." after a weekend of debate prep in boston, romney left for denver an wednesday's big event. while the campaign played th

pains me to say this but mitt romney's debate performance was really one of record books. because according to the gallup poll he beat president obama by more than 50 points. that's the biggest spread in any presidential debate ever. now romney is going to go head to head with the president on domestic issues and foreign policy. romney laid out his clearest foreign policy plan to date. he opened with an attack on the president's handling on libya. >> romney: with violent extremists on the march, it is career that the risk of conflict in the region is higher now than when the president took office. i know the president hoped for a safer freer and more prosperous middle east allied with us i share this hope but hope is not a strategy. >> jennifer: and neither is rhetoric. and romney was criticized for commenting on libya. that came after his gaffe-filled overseas tour in july. he was virtually booed out of england, but perhaps the most surprising thing about today's speech was that when you strip away all of the chest something, romney's plans look an awful like what the president i

debate about it. less than one month to go and mitt romney is making up some serious ground against the president. this is "special report." >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. we are 29 days away from the presidential election. one major poll says the two candidates are dead even. another has mitt romney up by four. pew research has the governor with a 49 to 45 advantage over the president. among likely voters. romney trailed by eight points earlier in month in that poll. we look at the poll numbers and all the important electoral college count in just a few moments. but first, governor romney says the president's global vision puts american national security at risk. chief political correspondent carl cameron has specifics. >> at the virginia military institute in measured tone, mitt romney wants his toughest critique yet of obama foreign policy. >> america security and cause of freedom cannot afford four more years like the last four years. >> romney said hope is not a strategy. administration policy weakened the u.s. and its allies while emboldening the enemies. >> with iran

and mitt romney in their first presidential date. >> these debates are an opportunity for each of us to describe the pathway forward. >> what i'm most concerned about is having a serious discussion about what we need to do to keep the country growing. >> two men with different vision on issues voters care about most. both of them. >> we certainly can't go far with a leader who writes off half a nation. >> he said he can't change washington from the inside. he can only change it from outside. well, we're going to give him that chance in november. >> watch cnn's coverage, side by side on big problems. will this night change an election that's just a month away? >> i need your help on november 6th. >> you believe in me. i'm asking for your vote. >> the nation is watching, voters want answers and america's future is up for debate. >>> this is university of denver, where the presidential candidates could go a long way tonight toward winning or losing the white house. president barack obama and governor mitt romney, they are both getting ready to take the stage and compete face to face for

, game change. will wednesday's debate blow the race wide open? i'll ask top advisors to mitt romney and president obama what they think it will take to come out on top. >>> battleground america. on one side, the conservatives, if the election were today, president obama would win. on the other side, the liberal who says the debates are make or break for mitt romney. >>> also, marie osmond. what it would mean to her to see a mormon president. >> there's a lot of strange things said about, you know, our faith. >> marie osmond on her faith and family. >>> and my exclusive with european ryder cup winners, ian poulter and justin rose. a sporting moment so extraordinary even the men in the middle of it can't quite believe it happened. >> it really was one of the most remarkable comebacks i can think in any kind of sport. >> this is "piers morgan tonight." >>> good evening. our big story tonight, neck and neck with 36 days to go until the election, the latest cnn/orc poll has president obama at 50% and mitt romney at 47%, within the margin of error. the thing both sides are counting on to

america that can't believe how bad this guy did in the debate. romney won with the sound off. dude, he's yelling at you, look up! look up! what are you looking at, writing that's so important -- oh, that's nice. i didn't realize. that is impressive work. >> good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. >> romney will come across as empathetic. but here's what mitt's been promising for the last two years. tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. how do you make that seem warm and fuzzy? well you just need to shake it up as hard as mitt did last night. so, let's give it a shot. okay. here we go. >> a little magic there. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington today. the white house got some welcome news. a september jobs report with the unemployment number now down to 7.8%, the lowest rate since the president took office, first time below 8%. joining me for the daily fix, chris cizilla, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post-politics.com. the president out on the stump trying to make the best of it, these numbers can bounce around. we'll drill down on the economic f

. >> fresh from his successful debate performance, mitt romney tries to clean up his 47% blunder. >> now and then you're going to say something that doesn't come out right and in this case i said something that's just completely wrong and i absolutely believe, however, that my life has shown that i care about 100%. >> plus, late night's take on the mile-high debate. >> there is no red america, there is no blue america, there is only the america that can't believe how bad this guy did in the debate. romney won with the sound off. dude, he's yelling at you, look up! look up! what are you looking at, writing that's so important -- oh, that's nice. i didn't realize. that is impressive work. >> good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. >> romney will come across as empathetic. but here's what mitt's been promising for the last two years. tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. how do you make that seem warm and fuzzy? well you just need to shake it up as hard as mitt did last night. so, let's give it a shot. okay. here we go. >> a little magic there. good day. i'm andrea mitche

romney taking the lead in the new pew poll, the first gallup daily tracking poll since that debate shows romney fought his way back to tie nationally knotted up at 47%. bounce for romney since before the debate when he was trailing in the same poll by 5 points. groping for answers about why the president stumbled almost a full week later his top advisors are still pushing the narrative that romney lied his way to victory. >> look, george, governor romney had a masterful, theatrical performance this past week. the underpinning and foundation of the performance were fundamentally dishonest. >> big bird meets the big lies. now governor romney will be challenged for the remain 30 days to explain how it is he pays for $5 trillion in cut and tax cut for millionaire and billionaires. >> the obama camp has been using a study by princeton economist harvey rosen to back up that romney's plan is paid for by tax cut on middle class but there was pushback from rosen saying he was misrepresented, saying increase in the tax burden on lower and middle income individuals is not required in order to

says, round one goes to romney. how both sides say he won the debate. how the president lost and where we go from here. this is "special report". good evening. i'm bret baier. mitt romney is hoping to take the ball and run with it after what was by most accounts a winning performance in the first of three debates with president obama. governor romney running mate, paul ryan, will be at a rally in virginia in a few minutes. the candidates are spreading out to some of the most hotly contested battle grounds after romney's gather not guilty virginia, he will move on to florida tomorrow. president obama had an event in denver, then in wisconsin today and goes on to virginia and ohio friday. we have fox team coverage tonight. jim angle has a fact check on last night's most heated issue, tax policy. ed henry has the obama campaign reaction. and we begin with carl cameron on the first debate. good evening, carl. >> hi, brett. the romney campaign could hardly be more excited about what happened last night. in fact, since the debate ended, they say they've been getting two donations per second

first of three debates between president obama and mitt romney just two days way now and if is happening in the key battleground -- it is happening in the key battleground state of colorado. they have specifics they hope to hear wednesday night. danielle nottingham has the latest from denver. >> reporter: mitt romney will hold his last public event before wednesday's debate here at this hangar in denver and his supporters here say there is little room this week for mistakes. inside this denver airplane hangar gop volunteers work the phones as crews set the stage for mitt romney's last rally before his first presidential debate. >> i think a lot of people are waiting until the debate wednesday. i think that's going to be a big sway for some people just to finally see them kind of go head to head. >> reporter: wednesday's debate at university of denver will focus on domestic policy. romney supporters want the gop nominee to show undecided voters how he'll jump start the slow recovery. >> i think he has solutions to our economic problems and that's really what's going to help ever

expect tapgss. romney campaign co-share will be here to preview the debate. we'll also talk to debar wasser man shultz about what's at stake for the president. >>> is it the spirit of america? a feisty debate for elizabeth warren and scott brown. both struggled on basic answers on washington. scalia and lugar. good morning from littleton, colorado, just outside of denver in the all-important denver suburbs. the swingiest part of the state. it's tuesday, october 2nd, 2012. i'm chloyce talbott. mitt romney landed in colorado last night and scored the endorsement of the big guy. the legendary quarterback and now executive vice president of football operations john elway. it was the only scheduled talk. it was a stealth bomber in the background there. romney tried to tamp down expectations in the back. >> people want to know who is going to win? who is going to score the punches and who is going to make the biggest difference in the arguments they make? in my view, it's not so much winning or losing or even the people themselves. it's about something bigger than that. these debates are a

. >> gearing up, president obama and mitt romney prepare for their first debate. a show down in denver this wednesday. >>> and on the record, arnold schwarzenegger opens up on "60 minutes" about the affair that produced a son and ended his marriage. >> it was the stupidest thing i've done in the whole relationship. >> this is the "cbs morning news" for monday, october 1, 2012. >>> good morning. good to be with you. i'm terrell brown. this morning in afghanistan the taliban is claiming responsibility for a suicide attack that killed at least 14 people, including three nato service members. a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle rammed into a patrol. americans have a large presence there. nato is trying to sort out a weekend attack in afghanistan that left two americans dead. the casualties push the number of u.s. personnel killed in afghanistan to 2,000. the circumstances of saturday's violence remains unclear but a fire fight broke out at a checkpoint in eastern afghanistan. what nato hasn't determined so far was the gun battle a result of an insider attack or a deadly misunderstanding. drew

romney tonight. the first presidential debate taking place in denver, colorado. peter doocy is here. we are going to get right to it. he is live for us in washington with a preview. good morning, peter. >> good morning, heather. vice president biden was down in charlotte north carolina yesterday talking about tax policies and the differences between democrats and republicans when he came out and said the middle class has been buried since president obama took office. >> this is deadly ernst. how they can justify raising taxes to the middle class has been buried for the last 4 years. how in the lord's name can they justify it? >> now instead of focusing solely on tonight's denver the obama campaign is doing damage control even though the vice president changed had. some of the harm done once to the strong middle class republicans are taking the comments and running with it. >> vice president biden just today said that the middle class over the last four years have been quote buried. we agree. stop digging bile electing mitt romney the next president of the united states. >>> the obam